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Month: January 2017

There’s only around sixty miles of water between Taiwan and Japan, or to be more precise between the east coast of Taiwan and the Japanese island of Yonaguni… and while the cultures are very different, there is an affinity.

Actually I found it a bit strange how positive a view of Japan that the Taiwanese had, despite Taiwan having been formerly under Japanese imperial rule. I think instantly of Korea, another country colonised by Japan, whose people tend not to be so positive about Japan. But in Taiwan when we shot our issue (05) there, I met guys keen to show us old Japanese architecture, guys gloating about trips planned to holiday in Japan, and even one lad who I shot in Taipei but then actually met during our shoot week in Japan. And he loved it there!

An interesting thing about Yokohama is that it’s perhaps the most international of Japanese cities. There’s a lot of architecture reminiscent of the West there near the old port (which was once the only Japanese port open to foreign traders). And here in Chūkagai where we shot Yosh is the largest Chinatown in Japan, and actually the largest Chinatown in Asia. As much as guys in Taipei were pointing out places that looked like Japan, here was finally a place that looked like Taipei.

Since this image is way too adult for FB, I’ll be posting this Elska blog entry here only, which makes it a good opportunity to talk about cock. Specifically I want to talk about Asian cock. You of course know that stereotype about Asians having small dicks? Well this lad here that we met and shot for our Elska Yokohama issue certainly wasn’t small.

Christ this is such fluff. And cliché. But I’m tired, I’ve only had two sips of coffee, and I’m gonna just click “post” anyway.

When I first saw the set of pics submitted by Benjamin Fredrickson for Elska Dehors, I was shocked by the spread eagle pic of Esteban V holding his feet back with everything on display. But as I looked at it, I quickly noticed the sense of fun and whimsy going on. It was clear that this “event” just sort of happened rather than was directed. Instantly I knew that Benjamin must have had a great time shooting Esteban, and that Esteban was having a laugh too. Perhaps one day I’ll get to shoot him too if we ever do a New York edition!

I have no idea how Ryoji found us. On our third day shooting in Yokohama I got a message from him on Grindr saying he wanted to do a photoshoot. Someone must have pointed him in my direction I suppose, but it didn’t matter where he came from. It was so hard to find guys in Yokohama so I was happy to have anyone. Straightaway we scheduled to meet the next day by Shin-Takashima station, where we found him outside riding in circles on his bicycle. We explored the area shooting as he changed into various pieces of clothing, all from Hollister (he worked there), until he did something that for Japan was totally shocking and revolutionary – he took his shirt off! Wow, Ryoji, truly the bravest Japanese lad we met!

I feel like such a dick saying this, because I hate to sound shallow, but Temelalj C didn’t look at all like his picture when we met in person. In Taipei, Roman Tanitchev was our Elska assistant, and Temelalj was someone he found. Roman only ever showed me one pic of him, and well, I wasn’t titilated by it… But you know, everyone’s welcome in Elska whether I personally fancy them or not – each to their own, right?

But OMG look at this boy! This was the first pic I took of him, fixing his hair as we got ready to start the shoot. Gorgeous, right?